Parmesan and Broccoli Parisian Gnocchi

Hi there,

This week, we keep on  reviewing the main cooking techniques by exploring 4 new topics:

• Dough 8: choux dough ***

• Cooking 6: Boiling Green Veggies  *

• Cooking 38: Boiling  choux dough gnocchi  *

• Hot & cold sauces - mix 5: Béchamel sauce & similars*

First thing we need to realize is the choux dough which is a very common  dough throughout cooking worl. Some people say it's very difficult but if you follow the preparation step by step , it's going to be  a real piece of cake.

In fact this dough has three key moments during elaboration. Once you know how to proceed , the choux dough won't  have any more secrets....And you'll never fail!
We can prepare dozens of different sweets and dishes but the recipe will always remain the same!

CHOUX DOUGH -INGREDIENTS FOR 8 PAX

• 4 whole eggs
• 100GR- 3,5 OZ  Butter ( cut in pieces)
• 25 CL -  8,5 FL OZ  Water
• 150 GR -  5,5 OZ Flour (sieved)
• 2 GR -  1 pinch Table Salt

Technique:

1. Bring to boil the water with the salt and   butter  cut in small pieces in saucepan.
2. At boiling point, put the pan away from the fire ( very important) and pour the sieved flour in one time.
3. Stir the dough with spatula or wooden spoon till you have a smooth but sticky consistence.
4. Put   the pan back on the fire (set a low as possible), then heat up the dough for a while in order to dry it up. It's important  to keep in mind that the result you want is to get a non-sticking dough , no matter how long it might take...So , keep on slowly stirring the dough until  it sticks neither to the spatula nor to the pan , you are done for this part. 
5. Pour the dough in a preparation bowl and leave it cooling down for  few minutes. We still have to add the eggs, that 's why it has to cool( to prevent scrambling).
6. To end up our choux dough , break one egg , pour in the dough and stir with spatula until the dough becomes smooth again. Repeat this step for each egg; if you try to add several eggs at a time , the dough would split and will have to start all the way from the beginning......

At this point , your dough is complete and can be used in many different ways. Keep this recipe as  a reference and you'll succeed for sure.

BOILING THE CHOUX DOUGH  PARISIAN GNOCCHI

So, your choux dough  nice and ready  . You just need to cook your Parisian gnocchis. 

• Bring a large pot of salted water to boil.
• Fill a pumping bag with a round muzzle  with dough.
• Pump the bag over the water and cut small pieces in a "corklike" shape with the tip of a small knife.

• Leave the gnocchis to boil until they float back to the surface .
• Remove from the pan with a skimmer and dip in cold water .

• Keep on the side for further use.

                           BECHAMEL (WHITE )SAUCE   -  INGREDIENTS FOR 8 PAX

This sauce may be the most famous basic techniques ; everybody knows this but  we often hear about lumps in the sauce. I'll just tell you soon how to avoid this .....

• 50 CL - 17 FL OZ  Semi - skimmed milk
• 30 GR - 1 OZ Flour 
• 30 GR- 1 OZ Butter
• 1 pinch Ground Nutmeg
• salt & white ground pepper

Technique:   

1. Melt butter in pan with no color 
2. Add flour and slowly stir with spatula or whisk to get a blond paste- leave en the side to cool down.This preparation is called a "roux" and always made with equal quantities of butter and flour.
3. Bring milk , salt , grated nutmeg &pepper to boil.
4. Slowly pour hot milk on the cold roux while whisking the preparation .
5. Once  the milk poured, put your smooth béchamel on the stove and bring to boil (always keep on whisking).
6. Leave to boil few seconds and remove from fire . You're ready.

Important tip:

The only way to avoid lumps in a Béchamel is to have hot milk poured on cold "roux " or  cold milk on hot "roux". The first solution tastes much better on my opinion.

You have cooked a plain Béchamel sauce.It's barely never used alone.

 In many recipes , this basic sauce is used with some grated cheese and egg added to give an interesting taste and better color when baked in the oven.

Today , we will add when the sauce has cooled down  for few minutes:

                                    80GR - 3 OZ  grated Swiss Cheese 

                                    20 GR - 0,7 OZ grated Parmesan Cheese

                                    1 whole egg

Your sauce is just great now!

                                                        Boiling Green Vegetables

This sounds very simple but 9 persons out of 10 do not really know how to do it properly. The main idea is to keep the veggies as green as possible  for visual pleasure , avoiding vitamins and nutriments loss and having the right consistence.....

• Bring a large quantity of salted water to boil as strong as possible.
• Drop your green veggies  ( broccoli in that particular case) in the water and let them boil at maximum T°C.
• when cooked , removes the green vegetables with skimmer and put in a large quantity of ice cold water . This step will make the green color become more intense and stop the cooking process.
• Strain and keep on the side .

You would just need to reheat the vegetables in a boiling salted water for few seconds in the case your veggies  would be used as a side dish.Never keep green vegetables hot for a long period of time ; they will turn to an ugly military green color!

We are almost done ; the only thing to do is to  finalize the gratin.

• Spread a layer of Cheesed Béchamel in the bottom of the gratin dish(third of quantity)
• Add the  gnocchis and broccoli sprouts cut in medium pieces.
• Pour the remaining Béchamel sauce on top of the dish
• Sprinkle with extra grated parmesan and swiss cheese. 
• Bake  at 180°C -360 °F until  you have a nice light brown color.....

Enjoy your meal.....This dish is great for cold winter evenings.

Warm Pumpkin creamy Soup

Creamy Pumpkin Soup with heavy cream spider net pattern  decoration

Howdy,

In our way  to French Chefs Cooking Techniques and as winter is at the threshold , will explore another topic of cooking  which is how to prepare soups , creams and veloutés. Today we're gonna have a close look at the Creams .
The technique , once more, will always be the same whether you may want to achieve an asparagus , Celeriac or whatever creamy soup.

Sometimes , you'll see the name "velouté " for a creamy soup; this is exactly the same process of elaboration  except you thicken  with flour and  at the very end of cooking , just before serving , you shall make a egg yolk finish. It gives an more unctuous consistency but can not be reheated at all otherwise , it would split......Flour thickening can be useful if you have no starchy vegetables in the recipe.

As usual now, your are familiar with our techniques directory(just register for free to get it), today we'll get familiar with two new items:

1. Hot & cold sauces - mix 18: Heavy cream thickening*
2. Cooking 39: Creamy Soups & Veloute soups  *

INGREDIENTS - SERVING 8 PAX

• BUTTER                                                          40 GR     - 1,4 OZ
• LIQUID COOKING CREAM                         12 CL  -   4 FL OZ
• CARROT                                                          200 GR    -   7 OZ
• PUMPKIN PEELED                                        800 GR    -   1,7 LB
• LEEK(WHITE PART)                                     400 GR    -    14 OZ
• POTATOES                                                      300 GR -     10 OZ
• CLEAR POULTRY OR VEGGIE BROTH     1,5 L -  3 PINTS
• SALT

       As you can notice , we do not use any  pepper in a soup because it makes ugly  dark spots and pepper gets stronger and stronger when it cooks . This tip avoids having too spicy soups ; except if you love it!!!!

TECHNIQUE : cooking 39

•  Wash  ( be careful to the  grit !) and finely chop the white leek.
• Peel  and Cut  pumpkin , carrot  and potatoes in half inch cubes.
• In large pot melt butter and sweat the chopped  leek white with no color , just in order to get rid of the veggie strong water .
• When done, pour the poultry or veggie broth and bring to boil.
• At boiling point, add carrot, pumpkin and potato cubes and season with the salt.
• Leave slowly boiling with lid on.
• When cooked , blend the soup and strain it if you want to avoid lumps of veggies .
• Bring to boil again  and the last step  will be  the cream thickening.

TECHNIQUE : Hot & Cold sauces - mix 18: cream thickening

This technique is not used that often but it's the same tip as mustard thickening, blood or urchin cream thickening....You'll sometimes meet those weird techniques in classical  French recipes.

But let's be back to our cream for the last step.....

• When your pumpkin ( asparagus, lettuce...) soup is ready bring it back to boil for a minute .

• Pour the cream in a preparation bowl and whisk it slowly while adding a ladle or two of hot soup.This is very useful to heat the cream up and  will avoid a strong temperature chock and a high  splitting risk .You may have noticed  this sometimes when making hot creamy sauces.

• Then pour the lukewarm cream + soup mix  back in the pot while slowly  whisking and your creamy soup is ready  .

With those few tips , creamy soups have no more secrets for you now!!

N.B :  In case you need to cook a Lettuce or Calaloo  creamy soup , you may not use  potatoes  to thicken the soup. Flour will replace the starchy veggie. Then you will use the same amount of flour as  butter. Sweat your leeks in the butter and add flour , leave slowly simmer  for a minute and proceed exactly the same way for the rest of the recipe..... 

Grilled Salmon Fillet with its Lime and basil Emulsion

Hello ,

As we keep on reviewing our cooking basics, the next step after the grilling veggies as you were shown in my latest post , will be how to properly grill a fish fillet  and , further on, the easiest and reliable way to make  a light butter emulsion.

Grilling is a key technique and in this post , I will enlighten its most important steps .

Concerning the Lime an Butter Emulsion , we are talking of  a supposed " very difficult to realize" sauce which is very close to the traditional Beurre Blanc but in a very lighter modern version ...

So today two new techniques  will become a piece of cake for you:

• Cooking 23: Fish slice or fillet  grilling**

• Hot & cold sauces - mix 27: lime & butter emulsion***

So , let's start by the grilling section . This post will be your reference concerning fish grilling.
We commonly see big mistakes and the final result is so often spoilt....

When grilling  , we should in fact say marking rhombus ( or fishnet pattern) on the food . The other  goal of grilling is to get this so particular taste of charcoal or wood fire & metal seared food .

• At first step , we will cut the fish fillet in the shape and size we want , pin bone  and marinate. The simplest marinade ever is what we call the "quick marinade".Its purpose is to give a bit of extra flavor to the fish . 

   We need just a bit of oil, a dash of lemon juice , thyme & bay leaves and seasoning.
The fact of using oil will give you an extra chance to avoid fish from sticking to the grill.
Leave the fish few minutes prior cooking.

• The second step we have is to reach a  high  enough temperature on the grill  to avoid the flesh from sticking to the metal.I use a folded   large piece of aluminium foil. 

      Leave it on the grill for few minutes and the temperature  will drastically increase. Be careful nevertheless not to  overheat the metal till it becomes reddish,the fish would develop a bad "iron" taste...So when your grill is very hot (but not red), clean it with the iron brush and wipe it with a piece of cloth.

• The third step is the main part of the technique. We need to get the rhombus/fishnet pattern on the fish.Better than blablabla... Pictures of the goal we wanna reach is more convenient. 

              

                                             

Our goal is to get as closely as possible to this pattern looking . 

So , remove your piece of fish from the marinade , wipe the  excess of oil  and  lay the fish steak ( presentation side first) on the grill and let sear for half a minute without moving it anymore . 

After this time, use a spatula to lift the fish a little bit and turn on a 80 ° angle ( 90°C would be too much in a visual aspect). 

Leave the steak  exactly as you did right before . 

Then do the same thing with the other side.

Great ! Now you have a well marked grilling pattern ..... Notice that this process will be the same for every grilled food...

• Fourth step  is for sure where most people make mistakes.....because of the fire strength. We need a very strong heat to get the fishnet pattern  but in the meantime , this high temperature will be too strong to finalize the cooking. This is why some grills have two independent parts; one very strong for thin and fast cooking food and one ( sometime a shelf ) with a very much lower temperature  to leave the food in a low temperature process.

     For our fish , or for big pieces , will will have to terminate the cooking process with  the lowest      possible  T°c because those products are delicate. This will avoid the flesh to dry & to be stressed and tough .

  This point will show a good you are as grill cook !  If the result is good-tasting, nice  & moist , you passed . But if , the result black , iron tasty  and dry; you ..............

  The easiest way is to end  the cooking of the food in a  medium low oven  150°C / 300°F.

So , now you are almost ready with your dish. The next thong you need is to realize ;

 Lime and Butter Emulsion

This sauce is based on a French Classical recipe know as 'Beurre Blanc or Whipped Butter" but this one is a lighter modern version used by the actual chefs. I will show you the Classical( very much heavier) one in an other post .

My version will be very great with grilled and boiled veggies, grilled, boiled or roasted fishes .

INGREDIENTS - SERVING  8PAX

•  Fish broth (or veggie broth)   10 CL - 3 FL OZ
•  1  Lemon juice   
•  Cod Butter cut in little dices  125GR -  5 OZ
•  Basil or any aromatic  leaves of you choice (minced) 
•  Pinch of salt & pepper

This kind of sauces have the reputation of being very difficult to successfully realize but I show you the step by step way to break  the myth. 

The  main keys you have to keep in mind for success

• cold butter  cut in small pieces
• boiling broth  ( you need  a very hot base)
• acid broth ( acidity helps emulsion )
• intense whisking  to avoid splitting

This sauce has to be served in the next 30minutes and it can't be reheated without splitting. So , it's a last minute task!

TECHNIQUE

1. Pour broth in a saucepan with lemon juice  and bring to boil . 
2. Let reduce from half at least  
3. Whip   the liquid quit quickly  while adding small pieces of cold butter.Do not stop whisking during this phase.You can use a mixer to have an even better emulsion.
4. When all the butter is  in emulsion  , remove from fire .
5. Add minced basil or other herb you wish, check seasoning and serve in the next 30 minutes.

Mediterranean Scents Grilled Vegetables Salad

The Grilled Vegetables Medley served with a cumin French dressing

This week we'll learn two new useful techniques  from your  directory( if you don't have it yet , just subscribe and you'll get it for free).


Grilling vegetables * :  cooking 29

The French Dressing * : Hot & Cold mixes  6

This salad is very nice when  you wish to have a light meal , as a starter or a buffet display...Grilling vegetable might sound very easy but they are delicate to cook correctly this way. Concerning the French dressing, you will know this basic for the rest of your existence......

VEGGIES FOR 10 PEOPLE( as a main course)

• Zucchini                                     600GR--  21oz
• Red onions                                 600 GR-- 21oz
• Red bell peppers                        600 GR -- 21 oz
• Green bell peppers                     600 GR -- 21 oz
• Tomato                                       600 GR -- 21 oz
• Eggplants                                   600 GR-- 21 oz

Technique:

1. Peel the red onions  with removing all the stem tough end and cut in quarters without  breaking .

2. Cut  the bell peppers in for 4 long stripes and remove stem and seeds.

3. Trim the extremities of zucchini and eggplant then cut 1cm---1/4 Inch  thick slices.

Cut the tomatoes in quarters.

4. Heat the Grill up at a very high temperature in order to allow the veggies to be correctly seared.

If the heating is not efficient , I actually use  a big piece of aluminium foil folded in four; leave it on the grill  for a moment and it will help the temperature to drastically increase.

5. When the grill is hot enough , just wipe a bit of olive oil on a cloth to avoid the veggies from sticking.

6. Sear the veggies on the grill just to get them marked by the hot metal. We won't totally cook the vegetables  right now. The aim is to have them nice.Don' t move them during this step , the grill marks wouldn't be visible; leave them long enough to get the result you wish.

7. Afterwards , we need to finish the cooking in a medium oven (150°C --300° F) sprinkled with a bit of olive  oil , salt , pepper ,  cumin and oregano . I use to add a bit of water  or veggie broth in the cooking pan to avoid drying during the cooking process.Cook every kind of veggie separately.
8. when ready , let  the dishes cool  down.The main ingredient are ready.....

CUMIN FRENCH DRESSING FOR 10 PEOPLE

INGREDIENTS:

• Olive oil                                   30CL  --  10 FLOZ
• Red old wine vinegar              10 CL --    3 FLOZ
• Ground cumin                          2 big pinches
• Garlic                                       1 clove thinly  crushed
• Dijon mustard                         10 GR --  0,35 OZ   
• Salt & pepper                          

Technique:

1.In a Bowl, pour mustard salt and vinegar . This step is important because the salt is able to melt correctly in vinegar and mustard but wouldn't in oil. If not , your dressing would be gritty and almost unsalted ...

2. Start whisking the mix and slowly add the olive oil . The aim is to create a emulsion that won't split in few seconds. The faster whisking the better.
Some people even use a blender and  a bit of water  ; the result is great and your emulsion will last few days....

3. Add the crushed garlic and the cumin  and check the seasoning.
Every French dressing will done the same way .

You're done now, dress your plate with some salad in the middle and arrange your veggies all around; pour some cumin dressing  and ... Enjoy!!! 

After Halloween ......... Try the Pumkin and almond tart and its warm chocolate sauce

   

AFTER-HALLOWEEN'S TREAT

Here we are , Halloween time is gone with plenty pumpkin left?
The following almond & pumpkin tart really great .

This recipe will use once more the "Doug 1-2 tart dough/ roll and fill a mould :" and "cooking 1: pre-bake a tart" techniques  but as new tip you'll shown how to realize a warm chocolate sauce named "Cream & mix 18": Chocolate sauce *.

That means , in every next recipe you'll know this sauce. No need re-reading this recipe again; it will  always be the same. 

As I  tell you since a while , if you have already subscribed to this blog, you should have your updated French Chef Cooking Techniques Directory. For the next chocolate sauces , you just need to click on the recipe name and it will lead you right to the "Cream & mix 18": Chocolate Sauce*...So easy!! 

 

OK , let's go ! 

First of all you'll need  a tart dough; no problems , we saw it two weeks ago in the Dark Chocolate Ganache Tart (just click on the link!).It's gonna exactly be the same for rolling the dough, setting it in the mould and pre-baking.

In a word  we just need to learn how to realize the almond and pumpkin mix that will fill our tart and our famous chocolate sauce later on.

Almond & pumpkin mix  :

Ingredient for 1 tart  (serving 8)

• Butter   60 GR
• Cream  6 CL
• Egg yolk  3
• Egg  2
• Peeled pumpkin 600 GR
• Cater sugar 150 GR
• Sliced Almonds  50  GR
• Vanilla Extract 
• Almond Powder  100 GR

Technique:

 Put the pumpkin cut in small pieces in  a pan , add water and ,  bit of salt and if possible a vanilla pod skin to give extra flavor.Bring to boil.

When ready strain the softened pumpkin an mash or blend finely. 

Add eggs, yolks, cream, melted butter, sugar, vanilla extract and almond powder  to the liquidized pumpkin.

You can also add a dash of brown rum if you wish, its flavor matches very well with the pumpkin.

And ........your tart filling is ready.

The tart bottom: 

As we saw during the previous weeks: click in your directory to remind the following techniques ; they will be always done the same way:

"Doug 1-2 tart dough/ roll and fill a mould :" and "cooking 1: pre-bake a tart" 

When your tart is done and pre-baked , it just needs to be filled with your pumpkin mix; sprinkle sliced almonds on top and bake at 180°C (350°F) till the tart is light brown and set.

Your almond ans pumpkin tart is ready.Let it cool down and now we just need to finalize with the warm chocolate sauce that will be referred as "Cream & mix 18": Chocolate Sauce *

Chocolate sauce

Ingredients  for serving 8

• Butter 10 GR - 0,35 OZ
• Semi skimmed milk  10 CL - 3 FL OZ
• Dark (confectionery ) chocolate 100 GR -   3,5 OZ
• A vanilla pod skin( if available) 

This chocolate sauce will be the same for every recipe to go with fruits, ice creams, cakes and so on........

Technique:

Bring the milk to boil with the vanilla skin. 

Turn the fire off ( as i said in the chocolate ganache tart, chocolate hates heating over 56°C -  135°F  to avoid shining loss and gritty consistency).

Sound like ganache isn't it ? Only proportions differ.....

So , enjoy your Almond & Pumpkin Tart . This one was so easy , wasn't it?

Your second step........ The pissaladière (or the pizza ancestor).

Hi there,

This next  recipe will bring you to discover Two new tips 'cause you already know the technique  of "Dough 2** ".We saw it last week in the Dark  Ganache Chocolate Tart.

 So , we shall discover how to cook softened onions in order to use them later on.The purpose of simmering  the onions like a kind of jam will make them more tender and the strong smell which burns your eyes will disappear to reveal the real flavor of the onions. This technique named "cooking 3" is very useful when you deal with strongly flavored veggies / fruits or very long to tenderize.

This is a key  for your  chutneys  or onion soups for exemple...

So ....Let's go!



 "Dough 4" :The pizza dough  *  

INGREDIENTS for 2 PIZZAS( or pissaladières)

• White flour           425 GR (1,5 OZ)
• Olive oil               5 CL ( 0,17 OZ
• Table salt              8 GR  (0,3 OZ)
• Brown sugar         4 GR (0,15 OZ)
•  Water                   35 CL  ( 12 FL OZ
• yeast                      8 GR (0.3 OZ)
• garlic , oregano ( just a little bit)

Technique:

1. To begin with , pour the water ,the yeast and the brown sugar  in a jar and mix well. This step is important and can be done even a bit earlier in the day  so the yeast becomes active. Yeast is a sort of mushroom that needs water and food ( sugar ) to develop.                                                                                                                                                                                                             INFO: Never leave yeast and salt in contact , it would lead to the sudden death of the yeast !!!May be does it give you an answer to your  previous missed yeast risen doughs?                        
2. Sieve the flour  in a preparation bowl  , add salt ,  olive oil  and if you wish to give extra flavors to your pizza dough  :Add crushed garlic and oregano( some cooks pour a dash of viandox as well).                                                                                                                                                        
3. Mix all this very well and add  your sourdough (Yeast-water-sugarmix). Keep on mixing until your have a homogeneous ball of dough.                                                                                                    
4. At this step , your dough won't make it because it's not elastic at all. In order to rise properly your have to knead the dough until you get  an elastic dough. When the kneading process is ok , you will notice that your dough doesn't stick anymore neither to your fingers nor to the bowl. Notice that the kneading action is working on the gluten and is the key for an elastic dough. If the dough sticks to your hand , do not add flour , just knead a bit more...                                                                             
5. You've sweated a bit and you're proud of your first pizza dough; leave it in the bowl  and sprinkle just a bit of flour on top. Cover the bowl with a cloth and leave the dough rise at room T°C (20 -30 °C is fine --70 - 90 °F)  it swells to the double     .This operation may last 1 to 2 hours according of the yeast quality and surrounding temperature.                                                                                                                                                                                                         The fact of being elastic doesn't allow   the Co2 bubbles produced by the working yeast  to escape from the dough. As bubbles cannot escape , they just grow .......leading the dough to rise itself. 

                                                              

"Cooking 3":"jam like" simmering for the onions  *

First thing, you will have to peel  1,5 kg(3,3 LBS )of  onions and slice them . This technique was seen already in my september post named "How to safely use your chef's knife step by step".Once you're done,you can cook the onion jam.

1. In a cooking pan , bring  8 cl ( 2,5 FLOZ) olive oil to medium heat and the aim of this technique is to cook the onions very slowly without any brown color . Leave it for an hour or so simmering and mix regularly to avoid the pot to burn.
2. After that time you will have some  blond jam like onions , which become really good and sweet. Season  your preparation and leave aside.    Easy , no?                                                     For an onion soup  you would proceed the same way....Some French people add a bit of tomate or tomatoe paste in the jam , don't be surprised if you find this out in other recipes......

"Dough 2" :rolling  a dough  *  check our last week 's post "the dark ganache chocolate tart".
          So roll your dough like you would for a tart , round shaped  at pizza size. Remember you'll have to nice pizzas with this amount of dough.....Set the pizza dough on a non-sticking baking dish and we are almost ready...

1. Just spread your onion preparation on the pissaladière , add anchovy fillets in a fishnet pattern, few black olives , sprinkle some oregano . Notice we don(t use any cheese in this recipe).The cheese was added later on by the italian cooks.                                                                                        
2. Bake in a very hot oven (250°C -480°F)for about 20mn and you're done.

Enjoy....

the next step ..... the french pissaladière

Coming very soon....

the dark ganache chocolate tart...Yummy!

Hi guys,

As promised , we are going to take a look at a simple and very nice tasting tart . The recipe is very , very easy and we'll have the opportunity to study 4 basic  important  techniques :


Dough 1 : the  tart dough*
Dough  2: rolling a dough and setting in the mould **
Cooking 1: Pre-baking an empty dough *
Cream  & mix 1: elaborating a dark chocolate ganache *


Concerning the  tart dough techniques (making, rolling , cooking), once mastered, you will be able to realize any sweet tart you wish. For the ganache , same thing; this cream is very common and it is included in tons of  pastry cakes.



Let 's go for the dough:    "Dough 1 technique"

INGREDIENTS : 1 TART SERVING 8 PAX

• 250 GR (9 OZ) flour
• 125 GR( 4,5 OZ)  unsalted butter
• 10 GR (0,4 OZ) caster sugar
• 1 egg yolk
• 5 GR (0,16 OZ OR 2 pinches) table salt
• 5 CL (1,5 FLOZ) cold water 

TECHNIQUE:

1. Sieve the flour on your working surface
2. cut your butter in small pieces
3. with the tips of your fingers , start mixing butter and flour until you get something looking like yellow sand . This is important in order to have a correct mixing later.

1. Then, shape a kind of well with this sandy mix
2. Inside the well , add the egg yolk, sugar, salt and the very cold water ( very important , i'll tell you why later).
3. With the finger tips of one hand , start making circle moves in the middle of the well and with the opposite hand push a bit of flour mix toward the center.

1. Once the flour is mixed , is it now very important that you mustn't knead the dough!!  Once the flour is wet , the gluten get in action with the kneading and your dough will definitely become too elastic ! The result would be that you couldn't roll it properly.
2. Instead , just spread the dough on the table exactly like you would spread butter with the hand. Set you dough in a ball and make 1 more spread. This action will (allowed twice)properly mixes the ingredients without allowing the gluten to enter in action. your dough is ready!!
   
   
   
   

1. Now you have to control if the consistance is ok...Just pinch the dough with two finger ....If the dough breaks that means you have to add a bit of water otherwise it will break during the rolling phase. If the dough doesn't break appart when you pinch it , that means no further problems for rolling it.
2. Wrap your dough ball in a plastic film and leave it for 30 mn in the fridge( to avoid the even small gluten action ). By the way, the purpose of the cold water in the dough is to a avoid the sticky gluten action.

----------------

As your nice dough is cooling down, you will now prepare your dark chocolate ganache: Cream & mix 1 technique.

and noww....Action!

After those few posts , you know now that every single recipe is made of a selection of two or three  techniques out of  300.

In every future post , I'll decipher a recipe in techniques , exactly as I did with the Veggie quiche.

Every recipe will teach you one or two techniques with an allocated number . Afterwards , every new recipe will be refer to its number.

The purpose of this site is to provide you a kind of   French Cooking Techniques Directory.

In a matter of a year or so , you may refer to this blog to find the techniques you need for a particular recipe.

For the very first posts , we will focus on the simplest tips and then we'll go crescendo until we reach the most difficult  and delicate skills.

The easiest will show  the  "*"sign , the average difficulty tips will show the"**"  and the most delicate ones will show the "***" sign.

Last thing for today , but not least, a good dish has to highlight  and mix minimum two different textures ( cripsy and creamy for example) and match  properly two or three flavours. If you take a closer look at the famous chef's best masterpieces , you will identify those principles.


So , on the next posts , we'll start with  easy sauces, doughs, cooking modes, etc....  Keeping in mind our goal : mastering the tools .....

See you soon!

The right approach of recipes.

Here we  go...

As I wrote  earlier in my presentation, to make the job easy for you starting today, we shall take a little moment to find out the hidden basic techniques  in the recipe you want to execute.

This is how it works , with the alphabet  every word is at your reach !!!

Cooking is exactly the same; with the more or less 300 basics , every single recipe can be done which makes cooking  suddenly more simple; they work as benchmarks.

When I 'd been studying at the catering school , we had 120 recipes to know by heart which  included those 300 tips. So now , 25 years later, i can still remember most of them and they appear in every single recipe.

The best way for you to understand is a real example for sure.

Let's go for a veggie quiche ( vegetable tart)...what are the techniques i have  to isolate?

1. the dough
2. the salty set custard mix
3. the veggies

For number 1 , I think , most of you already know how to make  a tart dough , right? You can even buy it in the supermarket!  Number one wasn't that hard, was it?

For the number 2:  The "set" salty custard, mix only milk, cream, eggs  & seasoning  .... and you're suddenly able to make all the quiches you might dream at!

Number 3: peeling and cutting the veggies ( safe slicing is shown on my last post already), then "sweat"  them ( one of the basic techniques to be posted ) in a bit of oil or butter .
Not sauteed but just softened,  the aim is to make the vegetable sweat their inner juices in order to reveal their best taste.

And take 5 minutes to assemble the parts of the recipe , bake the quiche ( while reading or whatever...) and you're are done!


For your next quiche :

• you can use  mushrooms , blue cheese ,  seafood  or what you feel.
• put herbs in your dough?
• add some curry or tomatoes to the custard mix???

In fact , they are all done the same way . You can now make hundreds of different quiches.

Starting now , you can decipher every single quiche recipe and like a chef , add what you feel like to reach a interesting texture and flavor combination of your own.

That's how famous chefs do ......  

So damn easy!

How to safely use your chef's knife step by step

Hello guys,

Let's directly go to the main things about cutting and slicing. Chopping is very easy and safe  if you follow  the next few indications.From now on , his technique will be named  "BASIC 1".

First of all you'll have to use a sharp knife to work properly. Doesn't seem obvious but if your knife isn't sharp enough , you'll have to apply extra strength on it . Hence, more danger.

Then on a psychologic point, knowing your knife is sharp will lead  to more attention, of course!

Opposite Hand Positioning

The main thing to keep in mind is to keep the non-cutting hand safe . Place your hand so all the nails are touching  the  cutting board at the same time ( like shown on the picture). This is very important!

After that, you will have to place your knife along the middle finger  sticking to the second phalange .

This second phalange  becomes your knife guide...The tip of the knife must always remain in contact to the board ( very important  for safety and accuracy ).

Now you take an "up " view of your hand and see wether your can see your fingers on both sides of the knife or not...

If you can see them (even just a small piece) that means this piece can be cut one day or another.

Your fingers have a lower than 90° angle. 

Then you're not safe.

dangerous!!!!!

                  dangerous!!!!          

So now you will have to change the position until your fingers make a 90° or more angle and see no  finger at all coming through the blade.Keep in mind that the tip of the knife remains in contact with the board...

SAFE---

             

We are almost done...... The final step is to activate the back and forth movement  of the knife  parallel to the middle finger ....If you keep those guidelines  in mind  it's soon going to be very easy to slice and chop whatever you want....Begin slowly and you will quickly master the technique.
You should end with a technique similar to the short video....

                                           


Keep in mind:

• all the nails touching the cutting board
• stick the knife parallel to the middle finger phalange ( the cutting guide)
• keep the tip of the blade in contact with the board
• tilt your hand position until the finger have a 90° or more angle with the board
• use your knife with a back and forth move.

That's it!

Next post will teach you how to safely use your chef knife

And avoid...... this!

HOW DO THE BASICS WORK?

       Every single cooking recipe you can read , watch at the TV or whatever is always working on the same pattern ever and ever ....

       All the famous chefs like to show off and say they've invented hundreds of recipes , with very special goods.....

The harder the products to find, the happier they are.....Doesn't sound familiar?

In fact , they only use about 300 different techniques which isn't that important , is it?  With those 300 tips , you will be able to realize about 150% of the recipes!!!!And even more...

Of course , you will; because you'll be able to create  your own ones when you know most of  those techniques!!

All the young beginner-chefs spend few years learning those basics (some obsolete ones are skipped), work in different places where they can catch plenty ideas , decorations , flavour-matching...... 

Then they are ready to create! It's like music ; only twelve notes but no problem for further compositions........ Cool, indeed.

Cooking is the same , imagination is your limit!!

Most of the cooking  techniques that i will decipher for you come from the French Cuisine. Being an French Executive Chef and teacher myself, i will make those tips very simply for you like i would do it with my students.

So far , I have the great satisfaction of seeing few of my previous student working in  famous restaurants ... Sounds like my easy cooking tips really  helped them ....

In each post , i will break a basic recipe for you or explain a physical phenomenon. After that , 

Get fun.... no headaches.

                                                                                         

   ELFRE@CH

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